


Armor

by soldiermom1973



Series: 1,000 years (A Reconciliation Story) [51]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect - Various Authors, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Armor, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mass Effect 2, N7 Month 2020, N7 month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:53:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27544900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soldiermom1973/pseuds/soldiermom1973
Summary: "Take care of your gear and it'll take care of you!"  Words Allie has lived by her entire military career.  Words that were true, until they weren't.
Series: 1,000 years (A Reconciliation Story) [51]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1460416
Kudos: 2





	Armor

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [N7 Month](https://n7month.tumblr.com/post/631981099607785472/n7-month-2020) over on tumblr. The Day 13 prompt was 'Armor'.

Allie will never forget the first set of armor she ever strapped on to her body – it was during boot camp at the Macapá Recruit Training Depot. The supply clerk dropped the bag in her arms and Allie wasn't expecting the weight of it. Their drill instructors gave them a quick block of instruction on how to put it on properly as well as how to disassemble and clean it.

“I trust you maggots know what happens if you don't take care of your gear?” Gunny Ellison would scream.

“Sir, it won't take care of us, Sir!” the platoon screamed back in unison.

The armor was bulky and barely streamlined – scuttlebutt had it the stuff was well over thirty years old and had probably even seen action during the First Contact War. Allie agreed the armor was old, but had doubts it was _that_ old. There was no denying the scorch marks that wouldn't come out no matter how hard she buffed or the dents that were clearly ricochet marks. Still, it was better to be training with old, crappy armor than no armor at all. The fact it barely fit her didn't seem to faze her instructors any, either. She wasn't the only one in that situation – quite a few of her platoon-mates had armor that was either ridiculously large or barely fit them. They often found themselves swapping pieces out so they'd have something that fit them as best they could.

She wasn't sorry to see that armor go when she turned it back in at graduation.

Next was her advanced training and the armor, while still old and well-used, was newer and fit her better than the stuff she received in boot. Boot gear was basic gear – you were just learning to be a soldier and there was no need to have recruits wearing anything too fancy, especially since some recruits would probably never wear armor again for the rest of their careers. Advanced training was honing and refining those skills and that meant better-fitting armor to better simulate the environments they would be stationed in. She still lived by Gunny Ellison's mantra of 'take care of your gear and it'll take care of you'. At the end of the training day, she often found herself helping her fellow trainees to clean and maintain what they were issued, as well as figuring out ways to mod the pieces so they fit better – an old towel tucked behind a chest plate for better cushioning, some socks wedged into a leg piece to prevent chafing, even duct tape to help secure a just-too-big piece to a shoulder plate a little better.

About a month in, she and several other recruits were separated so they could receive biotics training. Allie wasn't an amateur when it came to her abilities, but advanced training helped her refine those skills to work in tandem with her squadmates. It was here she was issued the first set of armor that was truly hers – specially modified to enhance her biotics and reduce her amp's cooldown times. She looked at it in awe, thankful she was done wearing someone else's hand-me-downs to keep her safe.

From there, it was a natural progression – as she rose in the ranks, her armor became higher quality. The Alliance frowned on using civilian modifications, but they didn't expressly forbid it, either. AR 670-1 actually included a list of approved civilian mods and the companies who licensed it. Most of the time, the list was outdated and soldiers' weapons and armor could often be seen sporting a newer mod than was on the approved list. Only the hardest of asses in someone's chain of command would raise a stink about it.

She continued to care for her equipment, sometimes better than she cared for herself. More than once during her career, she sacrificed meals and sleep to make sure her weapons and armor were all cleaned and oiled, especially during ICT. When she proudly stood on stage and received her N7 insignia, it opened a whole new set of doors for her to be able to buy top of the line weapons and armor.

She even pulled her zero-g armor out weekly to make sure it was still serviceable. It wasn't part of Allie's daily gear, but she knew there was always a chance whatever ship she was assigned to would come under attack and she might not make it to an escape pod. She cared for that armor like she cared for the armor she wore every time she went into battle, knowing that care and maintenance might someday save her life.

Now she floated helplessly through space, watching her ship – her first command – explode around her. She prayed her crew all made it off the ship safely. She prayed their life pods would land relatively undamaged and they'd come out of it unharmed. She prayed all the care she took of her armor would pay off – that the seals and clasps would keep out the vacuum of space and keep in her precious supply of oxygen. It was only when a shockwave hit her from behind that she realized all her careful upkeep didn't matter.

All the preventative maintenance in the galaxy wouldn't have helped when that chunk of debris sliced through her O2 line.

**Author's Note:**

> AR 670-1 is a real Army regulation (hence the 'AR') - Wear and Appearance of Military Uniform and Insignia and it covers everything from how far apart your arm patches need to be to how long someone's beard can be. I figure in this case, it'd stand for 'Alliance Regulation'.


End file.
